1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a railroad car for transporting at least one cylindrical object such as a coil of rolled steel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Relatively large, heavy cylindrical objects such as coils of rolled steel have been transported on specialized railway freight cars designed for transport of these special loads. Given certain constraints for railroad car design, such as maximum width and length dimensions, the rail car must be designed to enclose a certain volume containing the particular load and the load must be arranged within the volume accorded it. The distributed loads of the goods being carried must be resolved by the car""s structure so as to be ultimately borne by the railroad car trucks. At the same time, attention must be paid to reducing the weight of the railroad car itself, as much as possible.
One prior art railway car for carrying steel coils comprises a massive center sill and large, heavy side sills extending substantially the entire length of the car. Transverse cross bearers and cross ties extend outward and upward from the center sill to the side sills to define a trough. While this type of car has been generally satisfactory, there remains a need to further reduce the tare weight required to transport steel coil loads.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a railroad car for transporting steel coils and the like large, heavy cylindrical objects.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a railroad car of the above-described type having an improved intermediate sill construction which carries loads in a more efficient manner allowing a substantial reduction in the weight of the railroad car.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a railroad car of the above-described type which places support structure more directly under the load, and in particular more directly under loads comprising one or more steel coils.
These and other objects according to the principles of the present invention are provided in a railroad car for carrying steel coils in regular commercial use, including a car body elongated along a longitudinal axis for receiving the steel coils, the improvement comprising:
said car body having opposed ends with wheel trucks adjacent each end and sides extending between the ends;
a pair of draft sills adjacent each end, located below the trough;
a pair of intermediate sills extending substantially the entire length of the car body, said intermediate sills located outboard of the trough and inboard of the car body sides;
a body bolster adjacent each end of the car body, joining the intermediate sills and the draft sills; and
the intermediate sills and draft sills cooperating to form a discontinuous trough for supporting the steel coils.